Reliability of cause-specific mortality rate statistics: case of Lithuania

Objectives: To evaluate the reliability of cause-specific mortality rate statistics. Study design: The underlying causes of death among different demographic groups in a territorial unit of Lithuania were verified and the data were compared with the corresponding official statistics. Methods: Community-based autopsy and expert analysis of medical records. Results: The study contingent consisted of 1474 permanent residents aged 0-101 years [809 (54.9%) mates and 665 (45.1%) females] who had died in hospital (n = 546, 37%) and out of hospital (n=928, 63%) in 1989-1991. The underlying cause of death was verified in 98.6% of cases by full autopsy (69.9%) and expert analysis of medical records (28.7%). Circulatory system diseases were found to be implicated in 44.4% of all deaths (35.9% of mates and 54.7% of females), malignant neoplasms were the cause of 19.4% of deaths (21.5 and 16.8%, respectively) and external causes were responsible for 19.4% of deaths (27.3 and 9.8%, respectively). Cause-specific mortality rates were sex and age dependent. Conclusions: The proportion of circulatory system diseases in the cause-specific mortality structure was found to be significantly lower, and that of external causes (injury and poisoning) was found to be higher than the corresponding proportions presented by official Lithuanian statistics. Verified cardiovascular death rates corresponded with those in the European Union as a whole. (c) 2005 The Royal Institute of Public Health. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.